Railway water-tank.



PATENTED MAR. 13, 1906.

w. L. BROWN. RAILWAY WATER TANK.

APPLICATION F ILED 116.14, 1905.

Winn N Witnesses I nVentor ttorney- UNITED STATES Pn rENT OFFICE.

WI-LLIAM'L. BRQWN, or LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS.

, RAILWAY WATER-TANK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 13, 1906.

Application filed August 14, 1905- Serial No. 274,093.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. BROWN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Little Rock, in the county of Pulaski and State of Arkansas,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Water-Tanks, of which the following is a specification.

The invention to be hereinafter described relates to railwaywater-tanks, and more particularly to the means whereby such tanks maybe maintained with a proper supply of water without the personalservices of an at tendant.

' vention, in which- A is a water-tank of any usual or approvedcharacter properly supported as, for instance, on the uprights A A.Disposed within the tank A is a bracket (1-, to which is pivotallyconnected an arm 0/, carrying a float a, whereby as the level of thewater in the tank varies said float will rise and fall, turning the arma about its pivotal connection with the bracket 0 Mounted upon the topof the tank are the uprights b, carrying a shaft 1), upon which isloosely mounted anarm b one end of which is connected to the float'arm aby alink b the other end of said arm carrying a pivotally-mountedtrip-catch, comprising the depending hook portion 1) and the trip-armI). A spring I) normally acts upon the trip-catch, as shown, to carrythe hook ortion b to the left in the draw-- ing. In t e bottom of thetank is the valve 0, fitted to an opening 0 and having anupwardly-extended valve-stem 0 which .at its up er end is provided witha-hook 0 adapted to e engaged bythe hooked end of the arm Zr when thelatter is raised, as will be obvious.

From the construction thus far described it will a pear that as thelevel of the water in the tanii A falls the float will graduallyasprovided with the worm d.

sume the position indicated in dotted lines,

thereby turning the arm I) on the shaft 12 and raising the trip-catch sothat the hook-arm b will engage the hook on the valve-stem and V raisethe valve 0 from its seat.

Connected to the valve-opening c of the tank by suitable pipe cis awater-motor W of any usual construction, so that the column of waterlssuing from the tank when the valve 0 is raised will flow to said motorand in passing through the same in well-known manner will operate thewater-wheel and issue from the motor-through the pipe 0 Connected to thewater-motor is the starting-shaft D, supported in bearings d d andstarting-shaft D, near one end thereof, is the. sleeve (1 carrying thebeveled friction-gear d and the collars cl d", between which is theloose member d by means of which the said sleeve can be moved lengthwiseon the shaft D while rotating therewith. Disposed preferably at rightangles to the starting-shaft D is the shaft E, carrying the fly-wheel Eand the bevel friction-gear e, the latter cork responding to thebevel-gear d on the sleeve d 'of the starting-shaft. The shaft E isconnected by means of a crank e and connecting rod 0 to any ordinary orpreferred form of gasolene or other form of gas engineF. The details ofconstruction of such gasolene or 8 5 gas engine are well understood, andas they f form no part of my present invention it is unnecessary toillustrate and describe them be yond calling attention to thewell-understood fact that such form of engine requires to be 0 startedor turned over to get the necessary compression and spark for ignitingthe com pressed chargein the cylinder.

A pump G may be provided and operated from the shaft E through suitableconnec- 9 5 tions, as the belt g, crank g and connecting rod g wherebysaid shaft E being properly. turned the pump G Will,'through the pipe g,deliver water to the tank A, such water being supplied to the pump froma suitable source through the pipe 9 as will be understood by thoseskilled in the art Suitably mounted adjacent the worm d is theworm-wheel f, which, for identification and in View of its functions tobe described, Io5' The may be denominated the controller. worm-wheel fhas a, cam f, secured to one face thereof, on which rides the roller f 2Splined to the 70 of a controlling-lever f pivoted at f a spring fnormally forcing the roller f 2 into engagement with said cam. Connectedto the loose member d on the sleeve (Z is an army" of a bell-crank leverpivoted atf", the other arm of such bell-crank being connected to thelever f" by means of a link f.

From the construction described it will be clear that when the roller f2 of the control? ling-lever f 3 rides on the low part of the cam f thespring f will move the controlling-le ver and its connections to causethe sleeve (1 and gear (Z to slide to the left and disengage the twogears d" and e and that when the roller f rides on the high part of thecam the spring f 7 will be compressed and t e sleeve (1 moved to theright to carry the gear (Z into operative engagement with gear e. Asalready described, the water-motor-has the shaft D operatively connectedthereto, so that when the water in the tank A falls sufliciently to liftthe valve 0 from its seat the shaft D will be turned by the motor andthrough the worm d the controller f will be operated and throw the gears(Z and e into operative engagement. Thus through the shaft E, crank e,and connecting-rod e the gas-engine F will be given initial or startingmovement.

It is to be noted that during the time that the water-motor N isoperating to engage and disengage the gears d and e and give initialmovement to the gas-engine F the valve 0 is open and water is escapingfrom the tank A. it now becomes necessary to close the valve 0 anddisengage the'gears d and e, so that the gas-engine through suitablepumping connections, as shown, may effectually replenish thewater-supplyin the tank,

and when this has been accomplished itis also essential to stop thegas-engine, and consequently the pump, all as will now be explained.

Connected to the controller or worm-Wheel f by a crank-Din h is atrip-actuating rod H, joined at its upper end to one arm h of abellcrank lever, the other arm k of which is connected to a link h whichis itself jointed to an arm 7r, loosely mounted on the shaft 1) anyusual construction.

and carrying a trip-cam k adapted to act upon the trip-arm b of thetrip-catch. The mechanism just described may consist of any usual formof dash-pot device and may be of Thus as the controller or worm-wheel fis turned the trip-actuating rod H is operated and through the partsdescribed the trip-cam h actin on the trip-arm b of the trip-catch,causes t e hook I) of the trip-catch to be disengaged from the hook c atthe upper end of the valve-stem 0 as will be obvious, thus freeing thevalve and permitting it to fall onto its seat and shut off the flow ofwater to the water-motor. The

disposition of the parts is such that this trip action takes place aboutthe time the watermotor has caused the controller to make one completerevolution, so thatsu stantially at the same time that the water is cutoff from the motor the controller-lever f 3 is actuated to disengage thegears d and e, thus permitting the gas-engine F to continue inoperation, as will be presently made more clear.

As has been 7 generally hereinbefore referred to, the gas-engine, asusual, is to have its charge of compressed as with air e10- ploded atsuitable times, al as usual in this class of devices, to give actuationto the moving part, and it is b virtue of this device, commonly termed te sparking, device, that I have devised means for stopping thegas-engine, and consequently the pump, when the desired quantity ofwater has been supplied to the tank, such mechanism being as ollows:Suitably secured to the too of the water-tank are the two similarcontacts Z, only one or such contacts being shown, since the other is amere duplicate and of usual construction. To these contacts areconnected the two wires Z Z of an electric circuit having a battery P.Pivotally mounted upon the to of the water-tank at Z is the switch Z, aanted to connect the two contacts Z, so as to complete the circuit. Theend of the switch Z extends through a slot Z of an upright Z, the end ofwhich rests upon the arm a of the float. From this construction it willbe seen that when the tank is full of water, as shown, the switch Z israised from between the contacts Z and the circuit Z Z is interrupted,so that the sparkin device of the gas-engine is ino eratlve. en thewater in the tank fal s, however, the switch Z is permitted to drop andcomplete the circuit through the contacts Z, whereupon the sparkingdevice of the gas-engine is made operative to explode the gaseousmixture, as usual.

The operation of the device will be clear from the constructiondescribed and may be briefly stated as follows: When the water in thetanks falls to an undesirable level, the float a of course falls withit, and through its connection with the arm I) and trip-catch the valve0 is raised from its seat, so that water willflow to the water-motor Wthrough the pipe 0*, thus actuating the water-motor. The 0 eration ofthewater-motor turns the shaft and through the worm d actuates thecontroller or worm-wheel f, which through the cam f moves thecontroller-leverf and throws into engagement the gear d with gear 6,whereupon the shaft E, and conse uently the gas-engine connectionsjoined t ereto, will be given initial start of movement. At this time itwill also be understood that the switch Z has completed the circuit ofthe water-motor in the meantime the gas-engine bein pumping device wilcontinue to. supply was arking device, so that the gas-engine beingtiius started will continuein operation, the having turned thecontroller f through one revolution, causing a disenga ement of thegears 11 and e and the closing 0 the valve 0 by means of the trip-camand trip-actuating rod, as hereinbefore described. It is evident, ofcourse, that started in operation the ter to the tank A until such timeas the water therein has reached a desiredheightor level, whereupon theswitch 1 is raised, as shown in the drawing, to break the circuit of thesparking device, and thereby stop the gas-enine. I It has not beenattempted herein-to illustrate the details of the water-motor nor of thegasengine, as such details form no part of the-present invention, andsuch devices, moreover, are well known to those skilled in the art andneed no further description or illustration. It is obvious also thatvarious modifications may be made in the means by whichtheinstrumentalities are operatively connected to, maintain the water inthe tank at the pro er level and this without departin from t e spiritof the present invention.

aving thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byletters Patent, is-

1. In a device of the character described, the combination of'awater-tank, a valve in said tank, a float, a trip-catch actuated by saidfloat to raise the valve, a water-motor actuated by the water from thetank when the valve is raised, a gas-engine, a pump connected thereto,and means between the water-motor and gas-engine for starting the latter from the former.

2. In a device of the character described,.

the combination of a water-tank, a pump for supplying water thereto, agas-engine for operating said pump, a water-motor, means disposedbetween the watermotor and gasengine for starting the latter from theformer, and a float for automatically controlling the supply of water tothe water-motor and the operativeness of the gas-engine.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination of awater-tank, a watermotor adapted to be actuated by water supplied avalve, a trip-catch between the float and said valve for raising thelatter as the water-level falls in thetank, a trip-cam, and meansactuated by the Water-motor'fbr operating the-tripcan1 and releasing thevalve.

4. In a device of the character described, the combination of awater-tank, a pump for supplying water thereto, a gas-engine foroperating said pump, a water-motor, devices for delivering-water fromthe tank tothe water-motor when the level of the water in the latterfrom the tank falls, means disposed between the wa-- as-engine forstarting the Former and then freeing the gas-engine, and means for triping said devices andshutting off the supp y of water to the water-motorand thus stopping the same after the gas-engine has been started.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination of awater-tank, a pump for supplying water thereto, a gas-engine for op,-erating said pump, a water-motor, a valve for controlling the supply ofwater from the tank to said motor, a trip-catch for operating saidvalve, a trip-cam, means operated from the water-motor for causing saidtripcam to trip the catch and free the valve, and means between thewater-motor and gas-entermotor and ine for initially starting the latterfrom the ormer, and then freeing the gas-engine, an means for stoppingthe gas-engine when the water in the tank reaches a desired level.

6. In a device of the character described, the combination of awater-tank,- a pump for supplying Water thereto, a gas-engine foroperating said pump, a water-motor, devices for delivering water fromthe tank to the water-motor when the level of the water in the tankfalls, means disposed between the water-1notor and as-engine forstarting the latter from the i ormer and then freeing the gas-engine,and-means for trippingsaid devices and shutting off the supply of waterto theWater-motor and thus stopping the same after the gasengine hasbeen started, and means for automatically stopping the gasengine whenthe water in the tank has reached a desired level.

7. In a device of the character described, the combination of a tank, afloat in said .tank, a valve and connections between the float and valvefor raising the latter when the level of the water in the tank falls, awatermotor operable by water delivered from the tank, a gas engine, apump operable thereby, separable gear connections between the water-motor and gas-engine, a controller for operatively connecting andthen disconnecting said gears, a trip-cam operable'from the con trollerfor tripping the connections between the float and valve to permit thelatter to close connections between the tank and water-motor, and meansfor stopping the gasengine when'the water has reached a desired level inthe tank.

8. In a device of the character described,

the combination of a tank, a float in said tank, a valve and connectionsbetween the float and valve for raising the latter when the level ofwater in the tank falls, a water-motoroperable by waterdelivered fromthe tank, a asengine, a pump operable thereby, separab e operativeconnections between'the water-motor and gas-engine, a controlleroperable from the water-motor for controlling mg said circuit as'theWater falls and rises in said tank.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM L. BROWN.

Witnesses:

S. ENGLAND, J. G. CORNISH.

